We have a change of plan, Stan! *update*

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Just a quick question before I pop off to work...How much spending money do you think a 17 year old boy would need? We have a separate budget for food so wont need to worry about that. Just his own money for buying souvenirs. Keeping in mind that I'm a spender and will be buying a lot of things, I don't want him to feel left out or like he has to ask for money all the time. I'm planning on getting him a separate travelex card with his money loaded on that he will be in charge of. Just need to know how much I should be saving. Hmmmmm

 

[PrincessInOz]

How long is a piece of string? It just depends on how much of a shopper he is and what he might buy. There is lots of merchandise....and then there is proper shopping!


Pick a number...any number on a per day basis....$25, $30, $50....

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Alrighty, so now for the draft itinerary! This may or may not change over the many many months of planning. But I feel good having somethign written down on paper to plan around. Please feel free to critique where you see fit

Day Zero: Depart Auckland airport. Arrive Los Angeles airport. Take limo to hotel. Unpack bags. Buy some water and drinks for the parks. Walk to DTD. Exchange vouchers for park hoppers. Shopping. Dinner @ Rainforest cafe.

Day One: Disneyland! Focusing on Fronteirland, NOS, Critter Country, Adventureland, Toon Town, Mainstreet USA. ADR @ Blue bayou for dinner.

Day Two: DCA! CARSLAND! Hollywoodland, Paradise Pier, Grizzly Peak. ADR@ Wine Country Trattoria for WOC dinner.

Day Three: Relax day. 1/2 day shopping at the block at orange. Afternoon movie at theater in DTD. ADR for dinner @ ??

Day Four: Seaworld tour with Southern California Greyline. Dolphin Interaction Program.

Day Five: 1/2 day at Knott's Berry Farm. Swim and Spa at hotel. Dinner at Dennys.

Day Six: Disneyland early entry. Focus on Tomorrowland and Fantasyland + any rides missed on first day. Fireworks and F! (possibly reserved seating for F!)

Day Seven: Relax day. Shopping at citadel outlets for 1/2 day. Pool and spa at hotel. Watch fireworks from pool

Day Eight: Six Flags Magic Mountain!

Day Nine: Disney California Adventure. CARSLAND AGAIN! Bugs Land + anything missed onm first day.

Day Ten: Universal Studios

Day Eleven: San Diego Zoo. Backstage pass zoo tour.

Day Twelve: Hollywood exploration day. Walk of fame, chineese theater, soad fountain store, hollywood sign.

Day Thirteen: Disney favourites day. Fave rides from Disneyland and DCA + any rides that were missed. Fireworks + F!

Day Fourteen: Check out of hotel. Last minute shopping at DTD. Shuttle to airport. Depart Los Angeles. Arrive Auckland.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Seems like a great plan with lots of exciting things to do and enough down time in between.

 

[Minniemum]

Looks like fun times to me!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Well today is the first official pay in my savings countdown to Disneyland. So far so good with all money where it needs to be I have decided to save cash to put towards spending money for Kyle and Myself, and stopped at the bank the other day to get some of the large note banking bags. I then decorated and printed out some labels to differentiate who's bag was who's and have now got myself some pretty cute little cash bags. Will post photo's tonight. Both bags will be safely locked away our of prying eyes

 

[PrincessInOz]

Look forward to the pictures.

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Sorry for the late post! Here are the pictures of the money bags that I made. Pretty simple but still cooler than just a plain bag. I will be using banking bags like these to keep or money separate during our trip. I will most likely have a bag for each: Food, Friends and Family Souvenirs, Transport and each a Personal Spending Money Bag. It might seem a little OTT, but I get really into my budgeting and like to know that I am sticking to my budget while on trips. I am also going to keep all of our receipts in the corresponding bag so that when we get home I can see how much we actually spent and weather or not we kept to budget.

I think I have decided to put all of Kyle's money on a Travelex card. That way he can be in charge of what he spends. I will get him out a small amount of cash before we go for spending at the airport and the convenience store next to our hotel (if he wants lollies or something) I think I will keep a hold of his food money though, I have budgeted in $10 a day for treats (Mickey ice-creams, Tigger tails, cupcakes etc) so will maybe give him his portion of that in cash each day of our trip!

 

[albertamommyof4]

Those are cute and a great idea

 

[PrincessInOz]

How lovely! They look great.

 

[Minniemum]

They money bags look fantastic.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Joining in, my trip planning will be about 10 months long too! Sorry you've had too delay but looks like a fun trip. Our usernames are pretty close too!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Good morning all! How were everyone's weekends? Mine was spent in bed watching some Disney trip vlogs that I recently discovered. I will post the link down below once I get home from work. Truly amazing to watch, and a good way to pass the time while waiting 12 months for your own trip to come around! After watching these vlogs, i've decided to look into pricing up adding a short stay at WDW onto the end of our trip. It would be really cool to be able to compare the two parks! But mainly...... I just really want to go to Universal Studios to see Harry Potter World I've always heard people say that WDW is much cheaper than Disneyland, so hopefully the budget can stretch!! Will keep you all posted! I'm looking forward to planning and researching something new...considering the trip is completley planned

 

[PrincessInOz]

Good morning all! How were everyone's weekends? Mine was spent in bed watching some Disney trip vlogs that I recently discovered. I will post the link down below once I get home from work. Truly amazing to watch, and a good way to pass the time while waiting 12 months for your own trip to come around! After watching these vlogs, i've decided to look into pricing up adding a short stay at WDW onto the end of our trip. It would be really cool to be able to compare the two parks! But mainly...... I just really want to go to Universal Studios to see Harry Potter World I've always heard people say that WDW is much cheaper than Disneyland, so hopefully the budget can stretch!! Will keep you all posted! I'm looking forward to planning and researching something new...considering the trip is completley planned

Personally, I wouldn't say this is true based on my own experience. I would say that WDW provides a more diverse spread of options for how to spend your money. For me, this is particularly true for accommodation and food. WDW covers a lot more geographic space than Disneyland; so you do tend to want to stay longer there in order to see things. The longer you stay, the cheaper the park tickets become.

And UO/WWoHP is amazing.

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Here's the links to the Disney vlog/follow me around videos. They're awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVsB1K9R4RX0fQ5C4yW3iKQ
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChgpwXzFRV3PG8g81aJF1ew

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Well, i'm back again with yet ANOTHER change of plans. Go figure. If anything this is a step back to our previous plan. I have now decided to take my brother on a trip for his 18th birthday (2015) I figured with 18 being a big birthday it would make more sence to take him then. I am tossing up between Disneyland and Walt Disney World for that trip. I do love Disneyland, but both my brother and I are Harry Potter fanatics and I would love to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I'll have to do some more research into WDW and see if I can be swayed to visit there.

So we are back to having just me and Alicia on this trip. With easter being so late we have pushed our trip back a bit and will now be departing New Zealand in the first week of May. Hopefully we miss the spring break crowds and aren't too affected by Grad nights. Either way with dedicated rope drop attendance and a well thought out touring plan, I am sure we will be fine At this stage we have planned to spend 5 days at Disneyland, 2 focused on DL, 2 focused on DCA and 1 to do our favourites at both parks. Do you think this will be enough? While we are all for hard core touring, we are planning on riding every ride at least once, we would also like to be able to stop and smell the roses every now and again. We will be doing lots of shopping as well! I'm just worried that we won't get everything done!! I know that in New Zealand when purchaing through a travel agent we have the option of getting tickets with more days than is standardly available through Disney. I think the tickets are for 10 or 14 days? I am contemplating weather or not these would be a better option. I am starting to get prices from Travel Agents for our holiday as we will be booking in October, and while I have done a budget, I would like to see the prices for flights, accommodation and Disneyland tickets that Travel Agents can offer.

Well, that's all from me now. With everyday I'm, getting more and more excited for our trip. I wish we were leaving tomorrow, haha!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Well hello friends, long time no speak!!!! Guess what?!? The trip plans have changed again...dun dun dun. For those of you who have followed along from the start you will know as well as me that this trip has gone through more ups and downs and changes than I could have ever imagined! Let's all cross our fingers and toes now that these plans stay in place!!!

The last time we spoke Alicia and I were going on this trip together. This is no longer the case as Alicia doesn't find herself financially stable enough to commit to a trip. We will fast forward to a few desperate pleas later to when my cousin Jordan agreed to be my trip buddy..again! Jordan is who I was originally going on this trip with but for personal reasons he couldn't go through with our plans. But, a contiki tour to Europe later and he has officially caught the travel bug! We are both VERY excited about this trip, but I am probably the most excited out of the both of us as this trip has been a dream for a very long time now. And this time it's ACTUALLY HAPPENING! So, i'll fill you in with all of our juicy new trip details! ( I sit here writing this in Starbucks, drinking a caramel frapuccino with coffee and cream, feeling the BEST Disney vibes!)

We have made a few changes to mine and Alicia's trip plan. Jordan and I are both fast paced people, so are planning a very fast paced trip! We want to see EVERYTHING and have an itinerary that reflects this to a T! We don't want to feel like we're missing out on anything, but have still decided to schedule some "relax days" ... basically so we don't pass out from exhaustion! Hahah! We have "trip meetings" most Saturday mornings over breakfast, and as our trip is pretty much planned, just talk about how excited we are! I will list our itinerary below, feel free to comment and critique!

As you all will know, I am OCD when it comes to trip planning. I won't lie, it's pretty much all I think about!!!So now that our itinerary is planned out, I'm already starting to think about dining reservations and daily touring plans! I am trying to research about our new travel dates (the first weeks of May) to see what the crowds are going to be like. As far as I can tell, we are going a few weeks after Easter, so will hopefully miss that rush, but will also catch the beginning of grad nights at the nd of our trip. But with effective planning, I don't think any form of crowds will bother us

(note: While I L.O.V.E planning, and admit that I am OCD about it. I do also understand that at places like Disneyland, things can happen that will affect any form of planning you may have, and I am more than happy to deviate and go with the flow)

Anywho, ON WITH THE ITINERARY!

Sun 4th May - Depart Auckland, Arrive Anaheim. Check into hotel. Explore DTD. Exchange vouchers for tickets. ADR @ The Rainforest Cafe.

Mon 5th May - Day 1 at Disneyland park

Tues 6th May - Day 1 at DCA. ADR @ Wine Country Trattoria. World Of Colour!

Wed 7th May - Relax day. Bowling at the Garden Walk.

Thurs 8th May - Knott's Berry Farm

Fri 9th May - Hollywood explore day. Walk of Fame. Chinese theater.

Sat 10th May - Disneyland day 2. Magic morning. Fireworks.

Sun 11th May - Shopping. Outlets at Orange.

Mon 12th May - Universal Studios. Dinner somewhere at the City Walk

Tues 13th May - DCA day 2.

Wed 14th May - San Diego Zoo. Backstage Zoo Tour.

Thurs 15th May - Catalina Island. Snorkeling. (dependent on - weather + if I can get over my fear of being eaten by a shark...)

Fri 16th May - Relax day. Catch some sort of American sports game.

Sat 17th May - Six Flags Magic Mountain

Sun 18th May - Disneyland day 3.. Fantasmic!

Mon 19th May - SeaWorld. Swim with Dolphins.

Tues 20th May - DCA day 3.

Wed 21st May - Favorite rides at Disneyland + DCA. Depart for New Zealand

(note: Where I have specified particular days for either Disneyland or DCA. That is just the park we intend to start in, as we will have park hoppers

So yeah, that is the plan so far! We will be putting deposits down on accommodation soon, and probably booking our flights when the specials come out in September/Octoberish.

Woohoo! I'm so excited!!!

 

[luulu1999]

I'm def no expert but on ur zoo day and sea world day I might would do those at the beg or end and stay the night in san diego because its a pretty good drive to san diego...just a suggestion

 

[jitterbug]

In addition to doing the San Diego part like luulu1999 mentioned, you may want to do the LA stuff like that as well, so staying closer in that area, since you have Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, and Hollywood on your itinerary. HTH!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

In addition to doing the San Diego part like luulu1999 mentioned, you may want to do the LA stuff like that as well, so staying closer in that area, since you have Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, and Hollywood on your itinerary. HTH!

Yeah, we had played around with the idea of staying in San Diego and L.A but we are firm believers in waking up early in the morning and cramming as much into the day as possible. We couldn't afford to add more 'travel' days onto the trip and didn't want to spend half the day traveling/checking in to the hotel and then only being able to spend half a day at an attraction. On my last trip the bus tours had us at our destination just after if not before opening, so we still got to spend a whole day doing something